


The Scan

by SugdenLovesDingle



Series: Robert Sugden's birthday bonanza [5]
Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Canon Compliant, Happy Husbands, M/M, what if
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 18:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23831407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugdenLovesDingle/pseuds/SugdenLovesDingle
Summary: Aaron has a special surprise for Robert on his birthday
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Series: Robert Sugden's birthday bonanza [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1711618
Comments: 1
Kudos: 35





	The Scan

“Yes it’s fine, really, I’m sure.”

pause.

“I’ve already ordered it now, I can’t cancel anymore.”

pause.

“We’ll just see you there. I’ll sort it.”

Pause.

“No he won’t mind. It’s only a few days anyway.”

Pause.

Laughing.

“Yes, that I do. So 11.30? Yeah ok. See ya.”

Robert frowned. He was still half asleep and vaguely aware of Aaron talking to someone and very much not being in bed.

“Aaron?” he croaked.

“Hey you. Happy birthday.” Aaron climbed back into bed and kissed Robert good morning. “I didn’t wake you did I?”

“‘s Ok… Who who were you talking to?”

“Oh nothing. Just some work stuff.”

Robert nodded, not awake enough yet to really reply.

“What time is it?” he mumbled, looking around for his phone. “Seb up yet?”

“Yeah Liv got him up. He’s playing with Isaac downstairs.” Aaron told him. “So, birthday boy, are you feeling festive yet?”

“Hmm… getting there. Give me some time to wake up.”

“Sure. But don’t take too long. I’m making you breakfast. And no you’re not getting breakfast in bed because you’ll end up complaining about crumbs all night tonight.”

“These sheets need changing anyway.” Robert reasoned. “They stink of sweat… and sex.”

“The sheets aren’t the only things that stink of sex.” Aaron said and quickly pecked Robert’s lips before getting up. “Have a shower and get dressed, and by the time you’re done, breakfast will be served.”

Aaron turned out to be a man of his word and by the time Robert came downstairs the kitchen table was set and filled with enough food to feed a small army.

“What’s all this? Who else is coming for breakfast?” Robert asked as he sat down.

“No-one. Just us four.” Liv told him. “Cain is taking Kyle and Isaac to Moira’s.”

“Yeah so tuck in so we can have cake as dessert.” Aaron said, pouring him a glass of orange juice.

“Cake for breakfast?”

“Why not? It’s your birthday. Live a little, old man.” Liv teased.

Breakfast was the usual hustle and bustle. Though Seb ate his porridge without too much fuss and Aaron’s culinary skills had thankfully improved a lot since the Valentine’s day pasta disaster of 2018, and the food was actually really nice.

Only Robert couldn’t shake the feeling Aaron and Liv knew something he didn’t. Liv being just a little too cheerful over a family breakfast and Aaron constantly looking at him with that look in his eye.

“Ok, what’s going on with you two?” Robert asked eventually. “And don’t say nothing, I know you better than that.”

“It’s nothing, I promise.” Aaron said, the grin on his face telling Robert it was most definitely not nothing. “Are you ready for cake?”

Aaron got up from the table and Robert caught the look he gave Liv.

“Is that what this is? You got a cake with an embarrassing picture on it or something?”

“No, but that’s a good one to remember for next year.” Liv joked.

“We have cupcakes instead of a cake. It was Seb’s idea when we were in the shop.” Aaron explained as he seemingly pulled a box from a bakery from thin air. “He kept pointing at the cupcakes and the woman in the shop said she could print our order on those too, so we went with cupcakes, right Seb?” he put a chocolate cupcake in front of Seb who dug in right away. Every bit his father’s son.

Robert relaxed when Aaron put a cupcake in front of him too and he saw there was just a little picture of him blowing out the candles on his cake the year before. They all tucked in and Aaron laughingly snapped a few pictures of Robert and Seb, side by side, enjoying their cupcakes and one of Seb offering Robert a bite.

“These are really good. Where did you get them? We should get some, some other time, just because.” Robert commented.

“Just some place in Leeds I’d heard about from a client. Do you want another one? There’s plenty.”

Robert hesitated for a second.

“Oh go on then. If I can’t treat myself on my birthday, when can I?”

Aaron smiled.

“Exactly.”

He got up and gave Seb and Liv both another cupcake, put one on his own empty breakfast plate and then seemed to carefully pick out one for Robert.

“Saving the best for last. Happy birthday.” he dropped a kiss in Robert’s hair and sat back down.

Robert gave him a confused look until he looked down at the cupcake Aaron had just put in front of him and noticed a different picture than the other one.

“What’s this?”

“What does it look like?”

Robert looked down again but couldn’t quite understand what he was seeing.

“Actually,” Aaron slid his own cupcake over to him, “This one goes with it.”

“And this one too.” Liv said, following her brother’s example.

“Is… is this a joke?”

“It’s not a joke. It’s real.” Aaron assured him.

Robert looked down at the cupcakes again. On his own there was a tiny screenshot from a conversation between Aaron and Natalie, Aaron’s had a picture of a positive pregnancy test, and Liv’s a date about 7 and a half months from now.

“It… worked? It worked the first time?”

Aaron smiled brightly and nodded.

“It worked. She told me about a week ago… and wanted to tell you too but I wanted to make it a special surprise for your birthday.”

“I… I can’t believe it… We’re having a baby?”

“Yeah. We’re having a baby.” Aaron said happily and leaned over the table to kiss his husband. “And you’re going to be a big brother.” he said to Seb and ruffled his hair.

“There’s actually a fourth one.” Liv said, taking a fourth cupcake from the box and put it on the table in front of Robert. “Technically this one was supposed to be Seb’s but we figured it was safer if we kept it in the box and gave him another one so he wouldn’t eat the surprise.”

“April 22nd 2020, 11.45AM.” Robert read out loud and looked up at his husband and sister in law. “What does this mean?”

“There is someone you should meet. At 11.45 today.”

“What? Who? I don’t understand… what does this have to do Natalie being pregnant?”

“Natalie’s first scan is at 11.45 today.” Aaron explained. “We get to meet our baby. Sort of.”

Robert blinked a few times to let the news sink in before looking at his watch.

“It’s 10.30. We should get going then!” he stressed. “We’ll drop Seb off at Diane’s or Vic’s and -”

“I’ll stay home with Seb.” Liv told him. “We’re just going to watch some cartoons or do some colouring until you two get back.”

Roughly fifteen minutes later they were on their way to the hospital. Aaron had insisted on driving because Robert was in no state to do anything but sit in the passenger’s seat. He hadn’t even argued when Aaron had grabbed the keys to the Porsche.

“I can’t believe you’ve known for a week and didn’t tell me!”

“I wanted to… but I just pictured the look on your face when I told you on your birthday. The four pictures were supposed to be on one big cake but Seb really did like the cupcakes.”

“He probably figured he could get more if there was a full box of cupcakes.” Robert joked.

Aaron laughed.

“Like father, like son.”

When they got to the hospital Natalie was waiting outside for them.

“Hiya. Happy birthday.” She said and gave Robert a hug. “Sorry for keeping this from you but Aaron wanted it to be a surprise.”

“It’s fine, don’t worry. I’m just excited to see this little one now.” Robert said, gesturing to her stomach. “How are you feeling?”

“Good. Excited. I did some research online last night and with some luck we’ll be able to hear the heartbeat today.”

The three of them went inside and made their way to the radiology department where they could go through to a exam room straight away because of a cancellation.

The nurse greeted the three of them and Natalie lay down on the table, pulling her top up.

“Right, so you’re about 7 weeks now? Are you sure about your dates?”

“I’m sure. I’m their surrogate so it was all planned.” Natalie told her.

“Oh, right. Well that’s good, that gives us more certainty.” she said and turned to Robert and Aaron. “Is this your first?”

“Uh well I uh…” Robert started, not sure how to answer that question.

“Our first together.” Aaron cut in. “He has a son from a previous relationship. He’s two and he lives with us.”

“Oh so you know how this works then?” the nurse asked Robert.

“Ah no… not really… I uh… wasn’t really involved last time.”

“Newbies all round then.” the nurse said, friendly and quickly explained the machine and what they could expect to see.

“We just want to know everything is alright.” Aaron said, looking at Robert who nodded.

“That’s all we need.”

“I uh… did a bit of research online… it said you can hear the baby’s heartbeat by now?” Natalie asked.

The nurse checked Natalie’s file again.

“With seven weeks we could get lucky.” She told the three of them. “But don’t worry if I can’t find a heartbeat, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with your baby, it just means it’s still too early.”

“Do you usually find a heartbeat at this stage?” Robert asked.

“Not always. Some children develop slower than others. But that’s nothing to worry about.” she put some gel on Natalie’s stomach and moved the wand around, looking for the baby. “Let’s see… Ah here we go.” she moved the monitor so they could all see the screen. “Here he or she is.”

“That’s… that’s our baby.” Robert said to Aaron who could only stare at the screen.

The nurse moved the screen back to face her.

“I’m just going to do some measurements, see how we’re doing.” she clicked around a bit and pressed some buttons on the machine. “Everything seems to be right on schedule. It’s all looking good. Everything is alright.” She told them.

“Can you… uhm.. try to find a heartbeat?” Aaron asked, trying to hold back the tears of joy.

“Of course. But again, don’t be alarmed if we don’t hear anything today.”

Aaron nodded and reached out for Robert’s hand.

The nurse moved the wand around on Natalie’s stomach again. There was some rustling but nothing that sounded like a heartbeat.

“It’s probably still too soon.” Natalie commented, sounding slightly disappointed.

“We can just try again in a few weeks when - oh!”

Suddenly the sound of a clear heartbeat filled the room.

“Here we go.” the nurse said happily to her three patients.

“That’s our baby.” Robert whispered again, afraid that if he spoke at normal volume the moment would be lost forever.

Aaron’s eyes were brimming with happy tears when he leaned in to kiss Robert.

“Happy birthday… daddy.”


End file.
